New York

[Mergingtraffic]

If you look closely at this beauty, you see it says "County of Westchester" at the bottom.  I'm thinking maybe that's why this has never been replaced b/c it's not NYS DOT maintained? I always wondered why these were never replaced.


Maybe these are county maintained as well?

[vdeane]

Is that too fast?

Unless ramp geometry makes it unsafe to merge at freeway speed (55+ MPH), it's too slow.

With geometry on some of the ramps, 55 at the beginning of the merge zone is pushing it around here. A lot of the ramps in Upstate New York have a curve at the end that many vehicles cannot take at full speed.

Aside from the cloverleaf loop ramps at NY 5 and I-90, I can take the ending curve at 50 on all the Northway ramps in normal conditions, and there's still a long acceleration lane to accelerate the rest of the way in.  The guys who merge on at 40 STAY at 40 until after they have already moved into the main travel lane.

[machias]

Is that too fast?

Unless ramp geometry makes it unsafe to merge at freeway speed (55+ MPH), it's too slow.

With geometry on some of the ramps, 55 at the beginning of the merge zone is pushing it around here. A lot of the ramps in Upstate New York have a curve at the end that many vehicles cannot take at full speed.

Aside from the cloverleaf loop ramps at NY 5 and I-90, I can take the ending curve at 50 on all the Northway ramps in normal conditions, and there's still a long acceleration lane to accelerate the rest of the way in.  The guys who merge on at 40 STAY at 40 until after they have already moved into the main travel lane.

And they move into the travel lane as quickly as possible instead of using the acceleration lane to their fullest potential.  Motorists on the eastern side of the state are notorious for that.  A woman became very upset with me because she entered the Thruway at 35 and immediately moved to the travel lane, I passed her on the right in the acceleration lane because there was plenty of room and I wanted to be doing at least 55-60 before merging into traffic.

[CobaltYoshi27]

If you look closely at this beauty, you see it says "County of Westchester" at the bottom.  I'm thinking maybe that's why this has never been replaced b/c it's not NYS DOT maintained? I always wondered why these were never replaced.


Maybe these are county maintained as well?

I'm not seeing it, sorry.

[vdeane]

Is that too fast?

Unless ramp geometry makes it unsafe to merge at freeway speed (55+ MPH), it's too slow.

With geometry on some of the ramps, 55 at the beginning of the merge zone is pushing it around here. A lot of the ramps in Upstate New York have a curve at the end that many vehicles cannot take at full speed.

Aside from the cloverleaf loop ramps at NY 5 and I-90, I can take the ending curve at 50 on all the Northway ramps in normal conditions, and there's still a long acceleration lane to accelerate the rest of the way in.  The guys who merge on at 40 STAY at 40 until after they have already moved into the main travel lane.

And they move into the travel lane as quickly as possible instead of using the acceleration lane to their fullest potential.  Motorists on the eastern side of the state are notorious for that.  A woman became very upset with me because she entered the Thruway at 35 and immediately moved to the travel lane, I passed her on the right in the acceleration lane because there was plenty of room and I wanted to be doing at least 55-60 before merging into traffic.

Heck, they even wait to get to full speed at Thruway exit 24 going onto I-90 (though thankfully they're usually at 60 or so), even though the ramps can handle full Thruway speeds.  They also slow down to 50 getting off I-90 at exit 24 despite the ramps being able to handle more and being a whole mile away from the toll booths.  Capital District drivers also take a long time to accelerate from lights; they're basically driving like 90 year old men most of the time (except in downtown Albany, for some reason).

[empirestate]

If you look closely at this beauty, you see it says "County of Westchester" at the bottom.  I'm thinking maybe that's why this has never been replaced b/c it's not NYS DOT maintained? I always wondered why these were never replaced.

[...]

Maybe these are county maintained as well?

Would make sense, if they're on the CWE frontage roads, which are county roads.

[CobaltYoshi27]

If you look closely at this beauty, you see it says "County of Westchester" at the bottom.  I'm thinking maybe that's why this has never been replaced b/c it's not NYS DOT maintained? I always wondered why these were never replaced.

[...]

Maybe these are county maintained as well?

Would make sense, if they're on the CWE frontage roads, which are county roads.

That sign is actually on I-287.

[froggie]

It's 10 between Exits 6 and 7. 2 of those are on a C-D road.

Technically that's true, but I would also argue that it can be confusing to the layman to say such, as 4 of those 10 are not through lanes as Roadsguy mentioned.

[dgolub]

If you look closely at this beauty, you see it says "County of Westchester" at the bottom.  I'm thinking maybe that's why this has never been replaced b/c it's not NYS DOT maintained? I always wondered why these were never replaced.

[...]

Maybe these are county maintained as well?

Would make sense, if they're on the CWE frontage roads, which are county roads.

That sign is actually on I-287.

Yes, the first one is on I-287, but the others are on Westchester Avenue, which is Westchester CR 62.  It's very conceivable that those are county-maintained.

[Rothman]

Is that too fast?

Unless ramp geometry makes it unsafe to merge at freeway speed (55+ MPH), it's too slow.

With geometry on some of the ramps, 55 at the beginning of the merge zone is pushing it around here. A lot of the ramps in Upstate New York have a curve at the end that many vehicles cannot take at full speed.

Aside from the cloverleaf loop ramps at NY 5 and I-90, I can take the ending curve at 50 on all the Northway ramps in normal conditions, and there's still a long acceleration lane to accelerate the rest of the way in.  The guys who merge on at 40 STAY at 40 until after they have already moved into the main travel lane.

And they move into the travel lane as quickly as possible instead of using the acceleration lane to their fullest potential.  Motorists on the eastern side of the state are notorious for that.  A woman became very upset with me because she entered the Thruway at 35 and immediately moved to the travel lane, I passed her on the right in the acceleration lane because there was plenty of room and I wanted to be doing at least 55-60 before merging into traffic.

Heck, they even wait to get to full speed at Thruway exit 24 going onto I-90 (though thankfully they're usually at 60 or so), even though the ramps can handle full Thruway speeds. 

...except for the little matter of that 20 mph hairpin curve from Thruway NB to Northway/Free I-90.

(Yeah, I know you meant come from the west.  Just giving you a hard time.)

[empirestate]

If you look closely at this beauty, you see it says "County of Westchester" at the bottom.  I'm thinking maybe that's why this has never been replaced b/c it's not NYS DOT maintained? I always wondered why these were never replaced.

[...]

Maybe these are county maintained as well?

Would make sense, if they're on the CWE frontage roads, which are county roads.

That sign is actually on I-287.

Yes, the first one is on I-287, but the others are on Westchester Avenue, which is Westchester CR 62.  It's very conceivable that those are county-maintained.

Hmm? They're all three on Westchester Ave:
https://goo.gl/maps/xFUW5opaexG2
https://goo.gl/maps/BCf99W1jVHu
https://goo.gl/maps/HjCyEnBWgsN2

[MisterSG1]

I looked on Google maps, is the Northway really 10 lanes in Latham?

Where on Google did you see that? It's only ever six, plus auxiliary/merge lanes that might briefly make it ten.

It's 10 between Exits 6 and 7. 2 of those are on a C-D road.

I respectfully disagree, looking at the map, it doesn't look like a C-D road entirely. The southbound side appears to be a C-D road, but there appears to be only one lane that's constant throughout the C-D section.

What I would consider to be a C-D road that's 10 lanes through, or at least very close to it, is at Exit 55 on the Thruway.

EDIT, it appears I misread your post slightly, but still, those 2 lanes that leave on the NB side at Exit 7, I wouldn't call those lanes myself, because you can see a continuity line on the right side of the right lane, this makes it obvious to the driver that these are not through lanes but lanes that will obviously leave the freeway.

[vdeane]

I think that's more like a frontage road.  In any case, those two lanes on the SB side are actually NY 7... it's an odd case where there's an overlap in one direction but not the other.

[CobaltYoshi27]

If you look closely at this beauty, you see it says "County of Westchester" at the bottom.  I'm thinking maybe that's why this has never been replaced b/c it's not NYS DOT maintained? I always wondered why these were never replaced.

[...]

Maybe these are county maintained as well?

Would make sense, if they're on the CWE frontage roads, which are county roads.

That sign is actually on I-287.

Yes, the first one is on I-287, but the others are on Westchester Avenue, which is Westchester CR 62.  It's very conceivable that those are county-maintained.

Hmm? They're all three on Westchester Ave:
https://goo.gl/maps/xFUW5opaexG2
https://goo.gl/maps/BCf99W1jVHu
https://goo.gl/maps/HjCyEnBWgsN2

I think the reasoning behind it is that Westchester Avenue is kind of the service road for I-287.

[empirestate]

If you look closely at this beauty, you see it says "County of Westchester" at the bottom.  I'm thinking maybe that's why this has never been replaced b/c it's not NYS DOT maintained? I always wondered why these were never replaced.

[...]

Maybe these are county maintained as well?

Would make sense, if they're on the CWE frontage roads, which are county roads.

That sign is actually on I-287.

Yes, the first one is on I-287, but the others are on Westchester Avenue, which is Westchester CR 62.  It's very conceivable that those are county-maintained.

Hmm? They're all three on Westchester Ave:
https://goo.gl/maps/xFUW5opaexG2
https://goo.gl/maps/BCf99W1jVHu
https://goo.gl/maps/HjCyEnBWgsN2

I think the reasoning behind it is that Westchester Avenue is kind of the service road for I-287.

Right...which is a county road...so it makes sense that the signs are labeled by the county.

[Duke87]

Right...which is a county road...so it makes sense that the signs are labeled by the county.

Although Westchester Ave was part of NY 119 when I-287 was first built. I've always assumed those signs to be original to the highway's construction in 1961 but if they're county branded, maybe they aren't.

[Buffaboy]

I looked on Google maps, is the Northway really 10 lanes in Latham?

Where on Google did you see that? It's only ever six, plus auxiliary/merge lanes that might briefly make it ten.

It's 10 between Exits 6 and 7. 2 of those are on a C-D road.

What I would consider to be a C-D road that's 10 lanes through, or at least very close to it, is at Exit 55 on the Thruway.

Every time I drive on that portion, I like to call it "I-90 Express" 

[vdeane]

Technically the c/d roads at Thruway exit 55 are part of US 219.

[dgolub]

If you look closely at this beauty, you see it says "County of Westchester" at the bottom.  I'm thinking maybe that's why this has never been replaced b/c it's not NYS DOT maintained? I always wondered why these were never replaced.

[...]

Maybe these are county maintained as well?

Would make sense, if they're on the CWE frontage roads, which are county roads.

That sign is actually on I-287.

Yes, the first one is on I-287, but the others are on Westchester Avenue, which is Westchester CR 62.  It's very conceivable that those are county-maintained.

Hmm? They're all three on Westchester Ave:
https://goo.gl/maps/xFUW5opaexG2
https://goo.gl/maps/BCf99W1jVHu
https://goo.gl/maps/HjCyEnBWgsN2

My mistake.  I saw the exit number and assumed it was on I-287.

[dgolub]

Right...which is a county road...so it makes sense that the signs are labeled by the county.

Although Westchester Ave was part of NY 119 when I-287 was first built. I've always assumed those signs to be original to the highway's construction in 1961 but if they're county branded, maybe they aren't.

It could be that they were installed by NYSDOT back when it was NY 119, and now the county is responsible for replacing them when the time comes.

[empirestate]

Right...which is a county road...so it makes sense that the signs are labeled by the county.

Although Westchester Ave was part of NY 119 when I-287 was first built. I've always assumed those signs to be original to the highway's construction in 1961 but if they're county branded, maybe they aren't.

They still could be. Many NY routes are not on state-maintained roads. It's perfectly possible that Westchester Ave. was county-maintained even then, and just had NY 119 routed over it.

[CobaltYoshi27]

Right...which is a county road...so it makes sense that the signs are labeled by the county.

Although Westchester Ave was part of NY 119 when I-287 was first built. I've always assumed those signs to be original to the highway's construction in 1961 but if they're county branded, maybe they aren't.

They still could be. Many NY routes are not on state-maintained roads. It's perfectly possible that Westchester Ave. was county-maintained even then, and just had NY 119 routed over it.

Either way, the sign looks cool.

[Michael]

I thought this was an interesting fact: The Voyager Golden Records contain this picture of what was at the time a modern highway in Ithaca, NY:


Here's the same scene in Street View, and here's a list of everything on the records.  The picture is in the Scenes From Earth section.

[Alps]

Right...which is a county road...so it makes sense that the signs are labeled by the county.

Although Westchester Ave was part of NY 119 when I-287 was first built. I've always assumed those signs to be original to the highway's construction in 1961 but if they're county branded, maybe they aren't.

It could be that they were installed by NYSDOT back when it was NY 119, and now the county is responsible for replacing them when the time comes.

Oh, that time has come and gone. Wonder if the state would kick in funding.

[cl94]

I thought this was an interesting fact: The Voyager Golden Records contain this picture of what was at the time a modern highway in Ithaca, NY:


Here's the same scene in Street View, and here's a list of everything on the records.  The picture is in the Scenes From Earth section.

What's nuts is the view in the other direction and the view going down the hill. It's one hell of a downgrade.